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Freelance Job Boards: 5 Tips for Winning Bids

Updated on October 31, 2012

How to Find the Right Freelance Jobs

There are pros and cons to using freelance job boards to get work as a freelancer. Many very terrific jobs are offered on those sites. However, there are also a lot of clients looking to pay as little as possible. And even when you do find those good jobs, you may spend a lot of time bidding on the jobs and then not get them so it can feel like you’ve wasted your time. Bidding on jobs on freelance job boards isn’t right for everyone who works as a freelancer but it’s worth trying out to see if it’s something that can be right for you.

Here’s are five tips that should help you to win work on those freelance job boards:

1. Take the time to find the right freelance sites for you. You don’t want to waste your time on sites that aren’t right for you so take the time at the beginning to really get to know what sites are out there. If you specialize in freelance writing, you don’t want to be on a site that is primarily for freelance designers … unless of course you offer niche writing that would appeal to this group and can use the board to your advantage. Think about who else is using the site and see if you can set yourself apart from them. You want to choose boards where your competition is comparable to you but not identical.

2. Be detailed in the profile that you put together for the sites that you are going to use. Each site offers you the chance to create a detailed profile about your work history. Take the time to really do this on each site. This is the place where you can really stand out by sharing what your specific skills are in freelancing. Make sure that it reads clearly, identifies and explains your strengths and provides all of the information that clients checking it out are going to want to know. If they can see it there clearly, they can easily decide to hire you. They don’t want to have to ask for more information; they want you to make it available to them.

3. Review the boards regularly and carefully. When you review new job opportunities on a regular basis, you can easily tell which new work is worth applying for and which can just be skipped over because it’s not worth your time. And when you bother to review the listings carefully, you make sure that you’re only spending time applying for the jobs that you’re actually qualified to do instead of crafting applications that are worthless because you don’t have what you need to have to get the job.

4. Complete all of your applications absolutely thoroughly. If a job asks for your resume and writing samples through the freelance job board PM system then make sure that you provide those things. If it asks you to answer very specific questions then make sure that you do that as well. You need to provide not only what is requested but really go above and beyond with a thorough application so that clients can see why they want to hire you.

5. Make an appropriate bid. The fact is that if you bid too high, you aren’t very likely to get the jobs and if you bid too low then you’re either not going to get the job (because this shows a lack of confidence) or you’re going to get the work and resent doing it at such a low price. To get the bids down right, decide what you are worth and bid on jobs appropriately at the low end of this range.

Be smart about the choices that you make when using freelance job boards to find work. They can be worth it if you know what you’re doing and find that the style of application really suits you.

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